It was reported by Chinese media recently that Chinese 43-year old “Golden Helmet” pilot Li Yong once led 4 fighter jets to resist the attack of a large fleet of 24 aircraft and completed the impossible task of 4 to 24.
Although the report did not mention what type of fighter Li Yong was flying and what type of aircraft he was fighting against, combined with CCTV’s report on Li Yong, analysts believe that this air battle is likely to be between J-10A and J-10C – the duel between the new and old generations of J-10 fighters. If this is the case, it means that although the J-10C is only half a generation more advanced than the J-10A, its combat effectiveness has increased exponentially.
As the latest improved model of J-10A fighter jet, J-10C has two biggest improvements. The first is the air intake and the second is avionics, according to analyst Fan Xiemian.
In addition to the old-fashioned simplified structure and reduced weight, the new type of J-10C’s air inlet without a surface layer has another major advantage that it eliminates the six defibrillation mustaches on the J-10A rectangular adjustable air inlet. The metal-coated cockpit cover and windshield of J-10C, the wave-absorbing patch on the surface of the fuselage, and the wave-absorbing coating inside the air inlet make the frontal radar cross-sectional area of J-10C lower than that of J-10A.
With reference to the HAVE GALSS stealth improvement similar to F-16 fighter, the cross-sectional area of the frontal radar of J-10C should be reduced by at least 15%. Although it may seem inconspicuous, in an over-the-horizon air combat, every minute decrease in the cross-sectional area of the head-on radar can directly shorten the range that is detected by the enemy’s fire control radar.
In avionics, J-10C has even seen earth-shaking changes. The first to bear the brunt is the active phased array radar. Compared with the mechanical scanning radar of J-10A, the new radar of J-10C not only has a long detection range, high reliability, and strong anti-interference ability, but also tracks a larger number of targets at the same time and has higher detection accuracy. Combined with the three larger multi-function displays in the J-10C cockpit, the situational awareness of pilots in air combat greatly exceeds that of J-10A.
Another major upgrade of J-10C in avionics is the advanced data link. Judging from the formation coordinated tactical training of J-20, J-16 and J-10C launched by the Chinese Air Force, the data link of the aircraft should be able to receive target data transmitted by J-20 and carry out an “Shoot by A with guidance from B” attack.
Therefore, In the air battle against 24 J-10A, the J-10C, with its overall superiority in head-on stealth, fire control radar, and data chain, was able to win even if there were only four of them, relying on early enemy detection. Furthermore, the four J-10Cs can also be divided into two dual aircraft formations, one with radar on and the other with electromagnetic silence, to share target information with each other through the data chain and launch a pinch attack on the J-10A fleet to defeat the other by surprise tactics.